Religion: 'Agnostic.' Hobbies and other interests: Walking, dog walking, music, photography, painting. My favourites were “ The Noonday Pool”, “ New Light on the Drake Equation”, “ Isabel of the Fall”, and “ The Summer Isles.Born August 6, 1956, in Solihull, England son of Malcolm (a postmaster) and Vera (an export clerk) MacLeod married Gillian Bowskill (an attorney), 1982 children: Emily. Parts of these stories have stayed with me and I still think about them. Admittedly the narrative pace can be fairly slow, but I found myself getting immersed in the weird and wonderful worlds MacLeod has created.

It took me a while to finish the book, but I enjoyed almost all the stories in here. Perhaps they were looking for more action-packed fare?

Some reviewers have called these stories boring. It should be noted that most of the characters are passive things happen to them and we follow their reactions to such events. Each short story contains high-quality world-building, beautiful descriptions, and memorable characters. This is literate speculative fiction and may not be everyone’s cup of tea. This novella won the 1999 World Fantasy Award for long fiction. The protagonist, Geoffrey Brook, is an old man which made a refreshing change.

“ The Summer Isles” is a frightening tale that imagines England becoming a fascist state after the Second World War. The author shows us brief glimpses of a fascinating world in this story. In the dream-like “ Isabel of the Fall”, a woman must sacrifice much to fulfill her role of being a “Dawn-Singer”. “ New Light on the Drake Equation” is a very human story of one man’s search for alien life. It looks at the process of artistic creation and the influences of nature and the wild. “ The Noonday Pool” imagines a strange encounter in a forest between the aged composer Edgar Elgar and a young, lost girl. “ The Chop Girl” is set in an Allied bomber base during World War II and explores the themes of superstition, luck and love. In “ Verglas,” a man must come to terms with the transformation of his wife and children on a strange world. What effect will it have on Jalila when Kalal sails into her life? Like all of the more fantastic tales in this collection, the world-building is exquisite. “ Breathmoss” is set on a world where men are rarely seen. Here is a brief description of each story in this collection.

The Summer Isles by Ian R. MacLeod